Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Soft SUGAk Cookies
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the dough
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the milk, sweet cream, butter and lard until well combined.
Add the eggs and sugar, mixing until smooth.
Stir in the baking powder.
Mix the dough until very soft.
Bake and serve
Scoop and place onto a baking sheet, patting them down with your hand.
Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden.
Let cool before serving.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter and lard
- Provides fat that makes the cookies tender and rich.
- Eggs
- Add structure and binding so the dough holds together.
- Granulated sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cookies brown lightly.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that lifts the cookies and gives them a soft texture.
- Sweet cream
- Adds moisture and richness to the dough.
The step that matters
Mix the dough until very soft. Overmixing develops gluten and makes cookies tough, while a properly soft dough bakes up tender. Stopping once the dough is just combined keeps the texture light.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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